


Are We Really Friends If No One Thinks We're Going Out

by mellojello999



Series: Mellow's Shiratorizawa Fan Week 2020 [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Fake/Pretend Relationship, Friendship, Gen, Humor, M/M, Not Beta Read, Shiratorizawa, Shiratorizawa Academy Volleyball Club - Freeform, Shiratorizawa Fan Week 2020, ShiratorizawaFanWeek2020, Tendou Satori's admirers, Ushijima never flinches, what the hell is this title
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-29
Updated: 2020-06-29
Packaged: 2021-03-04 02:53:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,696
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24976414
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mellojello999/pseuds/mellojello999
Summary: Shiratorizawa Fan Week 2020Much to Tendou's surprise, in his 3rd year of High School volleyball has made him so popular that there are student trying to confess their love and ask him out while they still have a chance. Turning them down gets old but he finds another way to keep them at bay. Who would ask Tendou on a date if he already had a boyfriend? Or maybe 8 boyfriends who were all on the volleyball team?Or: Tendou uses all the Shiratorizawa Volleyball members in his fake dating scheme and now the whole school thinks he has 8 boyfriends. All according to plan.
Relationships: Goshiki Tsutomu & Tendou Satori, Kawanishi Taichi & Tendou Satori, Oohira Reon & Tendou Satori, Semi Eita & Tendou Satori, Shirabu Kenjirou & Tendou Satori, Soekawa Jin & Tendou Satori, Tendou Satori & Ushijima Wakatoshi, Tendou Satori & Yamagata Hayato
Series: Mellow's Shiratorizawa Fan Week 2020 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1807843
Comments: 19
Kudos: 210
Collections: Shiratorizawa Fanweek 2020





	Are We Really Friends If No One Thinks We're Going Out

**Author's Note:**

> I've been sitting on this idea for a while, so it got long. Don't expect this for every day lol. 
> 
> [Shiratorizawa Fan Week 2020](https://twitter.com/stzfanweek?s=20)
> 
> Day 1: **Fake Dating** | ~~Breakfast~~ | ~~Coffee Shop AU~~

Tendou had a problem. A problem that he wanted to refuse even existed but it was causing too much of an inconvenience and he could no longer ignore it. Somehow, Tendou was becoming… popular. 

According to Semi, a lot more boys were cheering for him at their games this year. He hadn't really noticed, but if his blocks got attention while he was on the court, who was he to complain? It was off the court where this was a problem. After a long history of being an outcast at school, people he didn’t know approaching him for a friendly converse was an unfamiliar experience. It was even worse when he realized that they were asking for a date in the guise of hanging out. Not that he wasn’t flattered, just that he wasn’t interested and was starting to tire of telling people that he was busy and couldn’t meet up. Besides, he got all the socializing he could ever want from the volleyball club. Volleyball was one of the greatest things to happen to him because it brought him together with some people who genuinely liked and were friends with him. He was happy enough that he found a group of people that accepted him. It sort of blew his mind that he’d be in the situation where there were people who actually wanted to be around him and he was the one rejecting them.

For example, right now he was at his desk during a break with some boy from his class inviting him out. What was his name? Eiichi? Eiji? Whatever. He was asking what kind of sweets Tendou liked, maybe they could go to a new cafe that opened up and then go shopping or something. Real couple stuff. Tendou had to give him props for his straightforward approach but was not interested. 

“Sounds like fun, but I don’t think I’ll be able to go. I’ll be busy.” Tendou says with false regret. 

“Oh, that’s okay. Maybe we can go another time! If you give me your contact I can message you and we can make plans” The boy pushed on. Tendou once again had to give him points for his tenacity. 

“As much as I would love to do that, I’m not free a lot of the time. You know, with volleyball and school among other things…” He trailed off hoping that that was enough to deter any more attempts. Eiji looked like he was going to say something else when Tendou spotted a familiar head of hair poke into the classroom and his eyes lit up.

“Semi-semi!! Over here!” he sat up and waved both arms to call his friend over. 

“How many times have I told you not to call me that! Jeez, and I know where you sit you know.” Semi grumbled as he made his way over. “I just wanted to double-check that you were free to go out this weekend.” Ah yes, he and Semi were going shopping. After enough teasing Tendou finally got Semi to agree to let him pick out his clothes. Tendou had a grin on his face just thinking about it. He noticed that Semi was glancing at Eiji, and when Tendou looked he saw the guy with an irritated look on his face. Oh right, he just told him that he was busy and couldn’t go out. Ha, he looked kind of annoyed. Tendou bet he would be even more pissed off if he thought he got turned down so Tendou could go on a date with Semi. Actually, that wasn’t a bad idea…

“Oh yea, I’m super excited to go shopping with you. I saw this top the other day that I thought would look super good on you” Tendou said, adding a little extra sweetness to his voice. Semi raised an eyebrow at his tone but didn’t say anything. “Also, I heard that there’s a new cafe that just opened. Do you want to check it out with me” Tendou glanced over to Eiji, whose eyes widened as he looked between Tendou and Semi. Semi snorted.

“Of course, I bet you want more chocolate ice cream don’t you?” 

“Oh Semi-Semi, you know me so well” Tendou crooned looking right at Eiji. By the way, Eiji quickly turned and walked away, Tendou figured his little plan worked. Semi followed his gaze to the retreating figure with an eyebrow cocked.

“Who was that?” he questioned. Tendou waved his hand in dismissal.

“Nobody important. Anyway, when do you want to go shopping?”

After that incident, Tendou realized that there was one surefire way to deter random people from coming up to him to ask him out. They wouldn’t keep talking to him if they knew that he was already taken. Was he already taken? No. But could he make it look like it with the help of his many teammates? Yes. 

\----

The second time that it happened he was waiting outside the dorm for Ohira, they were going for a quick run to the convenience store for some snacks. He had only come out in a T-shirt and some shorts and the evening air was a lot chillier than he thought it would be. He wished he had brought his jacket, which he had forgotten because he was too focused on remembering to grab his keys and money. His dorm was too far away for him to spend the effort to go get it though. It was just a short walk, and Ohira would be here any second so he just had to tough it out this time. In the meantime, he would just have to endure the cold by rubbing his hands together. Damn him for having no body fat to insulate himself. His internal struggle was interrupted by some random student approaching, he had a face like he wanted to say something.

Ah. This again.

“H-hey. Are you okay? You look pretty cold.” The boy asked. Tendou smiled for the sake of appearing polite. 

“No, it's nothing. I’m about to go somewhere so it's fine.” Then they stood there in weird silence. Typically, any normal stranger would just go on their merry way after being brushed off but his kid just was taking the hint.

“I hope you don’t mind me asking, but you’re Tendou right?”

“Yup,” Tendou answered, trying to give the other as little to work with as he could so maybe he’d give up on the conversation.

“I’m not some kind of stalker, I promise, I remember you from the volleyball team, I went to your game last week!” The guy said, gaining some confidence. “You were super cool. Oh! My name’s Yoshi by the way, it's nice to meet you!” He held out his hand. Tendou looked at it. Who shook hands anymore? Just a simple hello is fine. Despite Tendou’s reluctance to go further with this interaction, he gave the hand a shake. Where the heck was Ohira, he needed him here right now!

“Oh wow, your hands ARE cold? Do you need a jacket or something?” Yoshi exclaimed, already moving to take off his jacket. Tendou held up his hand, words ready to decline the offer of the jacket when his savior finally arrived.

“Sorry I’m late Tendou, I couldn’t find my wallet. Are you ready to go? Oh, hello!” Ohira greeting, polite even to some stranger holding Tendou’s hand. Tendou quickly took it back and turned to Ohira who was wearing one of his fluffy, thick sweaters. Perfect.

“There you are! I got so cold waiting for you out here!” Tendou whined, shivering a little for effect. It was showtime. “If I knew you were going to be late I would have gone back to get a coat but I didn’t want to make you wait!” C’mon Reon, be the gentleman I know you are.

“Sorry, sorry. Here, you can borrow my sweater.” Ohira said as he stripped off his sweater and handed it to Tendou’s grabby hands. Tendou eagerly snatched up the material and rushed to put it on. After settling the large sweater on his thin body he pulled the collar up to rub it on his face.

“Thank you thank you, Your sweaters are always so warm. I am no longer frozen and you are forgiven!” Tendou says with a voice full of gratitude. Ohira just gave him a fond look and let Tendou hang off of his arm. “Okay, now let’s go!” He gave one last look to Yoshi who was looking on with his mouth in the shape of an o. “Nice meeting you, see you around!” And Tendou tugged Ohira into walking with him.

“Who was that? Ohira asked once they were far enough away. 

“I don’t know. Just met him. Watches our games sometimes I guess.” Tendou offered nonchalantly. “ANYWAY, let’s go. I want snacks”

\---

The third time it happens, Tendou is in the library trying to find a book for one of his classes. On a normal day, he hated being in the library for the purpose of finding a book for a research paper. They had the internet, why did the teacher insist they do research the “traditional way”? It was so bothersome, the only reason Tendou ever wanted to be in a library was to pretend to study while he people watched and read manga. On this particular day, he wanted to be in the library much less than usual. The reason? Another bold character had passed him a piece of paper with his contact on it. They were supposed to be quiet so Tendou bet that that kid thought he was being clever or something, asking Tendou if he dropped the piece of paper just so he could give it to him. Tendou stared at the numbers on the paper and then took a quick look at the source. The kid looked like a jock from another sports club, tennis probably. When their eye met he held his hand up to his head like a phone and mouthed “call me”. Tendou was not impressed. But, by some huge stroke of luck, Tendou spied Shirabu sitting just a few tables down from Mr. Smooth. Tendou pouted at the fact that Shirabu was at the library and hadn’t invited anyone to study with him. He understood why Shirabu didn’t want anyone to study with him but that didn’t mean that Tendou would leave him alone. Just because the kid was smart enough to be a doctor someday didn’t mean that he could escape his doting sempai. 

But whatever. He was here right when Tendou needed him and that was the important thing. Tendou folded the paper back up and walked in the direction of Mr. Unsolicited Contact, looking right at him. He could see the moment that guy realized Tendou was walking his way and a huge grin appeared on his face and he sat up a little straighter. Too bad for him, Tendou walked right past and sat right next to Shirabu instead. Shirabu was trying to ignore him but that hasn’t stopped Tendou before. 

“Kenjirouuuu” Tendou whispered. A small twitch of the eye told him Shirabu was listening. “I don’t understand what this says, can you help me” Tendou opened his book to a random page and pointed to a caption. Shirabu didn’t even look up. “C’mon Kenjirou, please help me, you’re so smart, if you just help me understand this part I won’t bother you” Shirabu finally paused in his work to glare at Tendou and say 

“I’m a little busy with my work right now, so if you’d leave me alone to work I’d really appreciate it” Tendou grinned, he was so easy to poke fun at.

“Awww, Wakatoshi is also having a little trouble understanding this, if you were to help me out it would also help him out too.“ Which was not completely wrong, this was one of Ushijima’s weaker subjects. Tendou leaned in a little closer. “In fact, we are studying together later, you are welcome to join us if you agree to help me ouuttt” Tendou said, trying to entice Shirabu. All the younger kids looked up to Ushijima and Shirabu was no different. He might think he was keeping it cool but Tendou could tell that he wanted to spend time with Ushijima whenever he had a chance. Shirabu glanced at Tendou with a pinch less malice and Tendou knew that he got him. 

“Well. Fine. I’ll help. Text me when you guys are going to study.” he replied shortly before going back to ignoring Tendou. Tendou gave him a quick side hug as thanks, making sure to draw it out as long as he could before Shirabu seriously got mad. Before he let go he made sure to make eye contact with the Jock, who had his face scrunched up at the sight of them so close. Tendou smirked and shook his head and shrugged his shoulders, hoping that he was conveying the message “Sorry buddy, not happening”. The Jock looked away and Tendou let go of Shirabu, took his book, and went back into the depths of the shelves. He made sure to find the book about [something] and put the phone number neatly in the pages for a random person to find.

\--------

The fourth time, Tendou was sitting as peaceful as could be on a bench on campus. He was waiting for Yamagata to show up so they could hang out together. Yamagata was very lucky that it was a nice day out or Tendou would be a lot more irritated that he once again lost his phone and was running late. He was, however, irritated by a group of underclassmen who were obviously looking at him. It was a group of about 5 of them, they were laughing and shoving one kid while they pointed at Tendou. 

Tendou would bet his whole snack stash that that one boy was going to come up to him and say something stupid. He just knew it. And sure enough, casting a shadow right on him, was that kid. He looked a little stiff. His friends probably hyped him up but now that he was there right in front of Tendou he was losing his nerve. He almost dropped his phone as he fumbled to take it out of his pocket and hold it out.

“H-hi!” He stuttered out. “I-I think there’s something wrong with my phone” Tendou gave him a blank look.

“Okay…” 

“It doesn’t have your contact in it!” He blurted out and then just looked at Tendou with panicked eyes. Tendou was doing everything in his power not to scream. Was that the big pick up line that his guy was going to use to snag an upperclassman? It was a nice try but that was almost worse than any joke Yamagata had ever told him. He wanted to burst out laughing and then cry from how ridiculous it was. If Tendou were a kinder man he would reward this kid’s bravery with his contact but that would be counterproductive and encourage this kind of behavior. So Tendou just sat there, eyes locked with the kid while he looked like he was about to pee his pants from the tension of the situation. He was only saved by Yamagata jogging over to Tendou panting. 

“Okay! Okay okay. I’m here. Found my phone. Also, I got you this from the vending machine.” Yamagata handed Tendou a latte drink. “Thanks for waiting, I appreciate it a latte” And he made those stupid face he always does when he makes a joke and Tendou felt like he was going to die instantly. In less than 5 minutes he had been beaten over the head by two horrific attempts at humor and he didn’t know if he could take it. A shrieking laugh forced its way out of Tendou’s body that startled both Yamagata and the kid. 

“OMYGOD HAYATO!” God, tears were leaking from his eyes. “How dare you be late for our date and then assault me with one of your corny jokes!” 

“You’re laughing aren’t you? Doesn’t that mean the joke was good? The worst thing you could do is not react at all!”

“My brain just doesn’t know how to handle what you just said!” Tendou continued to lose his mind with Yamagata patiently waiting for him to calm down. His mirth eventually died down and he wiped the tea

“By the way, Tendou, who was that kid?” looking over, Tendou realized that the kid had disappeared, his crew of friends also long gone.

“Dunno. Tried to ask me something, can’t even remember what it was now.”

“Oh, okay. Are you ready for our ‘date’” Yamagata says with air quotes. Tendou grins.

“You betcha!”

\--------

The fifth time Tendou was able to use both Goshiki and Kawanishi as his shields. Goshiki could often be found watching volleyball videos on his iPad in a lounge and Tendou often welcomed himself to join in. After enough pester he convinced Kawanishi to come to hang out with them as well. It was a rare combo of students from each year, but Tendou made it work. He enjoyed the times he could get comfortable on the couch right in between Kawanishi and Goshiki and they would watch volleyball together.

“Did you see that Taichi? You gotta be better than that guy when it comes to blocking. He let that ball go right past him!” 

“Yes, yes, I’ll work on my blocking.” 

“That cross was really good. I have to work on mine” Goshiki muttered.

Tendou shrugged. “Eh, I’ve seen Wakatoshi do sharper ones.”

“Well! Someday I’m going to hit even sharper crosses than Ushijima-san!”

“Not everything is a contest Goshiki, you don’t have to compete against him all the time,” Kawanishi said. 

“He is my rival, and I will treat him as such.”

“That's a great attitude Tsutomu, you’re like an anime protag or something,” Tendou said, bumping his shoulder against Goshiki’s. Kawanishi rolled his eyes.

“There you go with the babying again”

“Awww, Taichi, if you want me to baby you more you don’t have to be shy”

“That is not what I’m asking-- Hey!” Tendou already had a hand in his hair ruffling it.

“I said don’t be shy and let senpai dote on you!”

“That’s not the problem! I’m not jealous!”

“C’mon, You know you love it!”

As Tendou continued to shower his kouhai in affection, he spied a few people in the lounge looking at them out of the corner of their eyes. This was good, he wasn’t trying to directly deter anyone right now but the more people who saw them together the better.

Tendou happens to catch the eye of someone who is sitting on a table close by. He takes the opportunity to drape his arms on the back of the couch behind both Kawanishi and Goshiki and just smirks while they squabble over another play  
.  
\-----

Ushijima was arguably the perfect guy to fake date. He wasn't one to react strongly to strange behavior which made him immune to any of Tendou’s antics. Which meant Tendou had a lot of room to work when it came to the whole boyfriend thing. Not to mention that Ushijima was and was very intimidating. Tendou would bet that no one would even try to chat him up if they thought his boyfriend was the captain of the volleyball team.

Tendou was currently with an assigned project for a group project. Thankfully, they were mostly done or Tendou would be super irritated with this kid. Instead, he was only mildly irritated while his partner went on and on about some vacation he went on with his brother.

“Yea, my family has a cabin up in the mountains you know. Maybe we could go up there sometime. Just you and me and nature. It would be a pretty good time to get to know each other you know? You interested?”

Tendou was about to try and come up with the least rude way he could say that he was definitely not interested when his phone made a little chime and a single name lit up the screen. 

“Miracle Boy✨💖”

What perfect timing, maybe Ushijima was capable of miracles both on and off the court. Tendou saw that his classmate had a surprised look after seeing the contact name and a grin crept onto Tendou’s face.

“Sorry, I gotta take this, it’ll only take a second.” and without waiting for a reply answered the phone.

“Hi, Waka-chan, To what do I owe the pleasure?” Tendou asks, he doesn’t have to fake the pure delight in his voice because he loves to talk to Ushijima.

“Tendou. Have you seen my purple sweatshirt?” Ushijima asked through the phone. Ah yes, the huge purple sweatshirt that he had ‘borrowed’ the other day for a night of cozy studying. It was one of his favorite Ushi sweatshirts and he didn’t want to tell Ushijima where it was but…

“The purple one? But that one is my favorite, do you have to take it back?”

“Yes Tendou, it's my favorite sweatshirt too, and I want to wear it.”

“Well, I guess it's alright then. Your smell is starting to fade so maybe I’ll switch it out with another one.”

“You should always make sure to wash clothes regularly, Tendou. Sweatshirts especially will start to smell if you don’t clean them.”

“Yea yea, now let me think about where it is. I took it off in quite a hurry the last time if you remember.” Tendou said, biting his lip. One glance at the guy and he could see that he was totally buying this. “But it must be somewhere near the bed, for sure.” he heard some rustling over the phone.

“Oh good, I found it. Thank you. You also shouldn’t just throw your clothes under the bed. You should use the hamper.”

“Anything for you Wakatoshi. Anyway, will I see you again soon?” Tendou asked sweetly.

“Of course. We have practice together almost every day.” 

“Alright, I’m looking forward to it.”

“That’s good. Usually, you hate going to practice when we have to run.” 

Oh man. Tendou wanted to grimace just thinking about running but he had to finish the call on a good note. “I never mind getting a little sweaty when you’re around Wakatoshi.” That was a little much, but what the heck. 

“Well, I’m glad that my presence encourages you to exercise. I’ll see you later Tendou”

“Mhmmm, see you!” And he hung up and turned back to his partner, who was looking between him and the phone with wide eyes.

“Sorry, that was just Wakatoshi. He wanted to know where the sweater I borrowed went. I know I shouldn’t keep stealing his clothes, but I can’t help it, you know? They are the perfect size to be super cozy. But anyway, what were we talking about?” Tendou asked, feigning innocence. He could see that any previous confidence this kid had in his charm had deflated.

“Uh, well. Uh, we were just talking about… the Project! Yup, the project.” He said with an awkward chuckle. 

“Right, right. So for the presentation, I think we should…”

\-----

All of the members from the Shiratorizawa Volleyball team were stretching together before practice. Everyone was there save for Tendou, who had a meeting with the career counselor and had a pass to come to practice late.

“Hey, can I ask you guys something?” Goshiki asked.

“Sure, what’s up?”

“Today this girl in my class asked me if I was going to get Tendou anything for white day. She also asked me if everyone on the team was going to get him something, or if we were going to coordinate and just get him one gift. What exactly does that mean?”

“It’s funny you should say that because someone asked me today if Tendou only borrowed clothes from Ushijma and Ohira or if everybody lent him something,” Yamagata said.

“Somebody asked ME today if we all went on dates together or if we only did that individually” Kawanishi added.

“I seriously don’t know what is going on. Someone said something to me about how it was so sweet that your team has such a beautiful relationship.” Ohira said. “Whatever that means…”

“Our team does have a good relationship with each other.” Ushijima reasoned. But everyone else on the team had a skeptical face. Ohira’s sucked in some air through his teeth, making a hissing noise.

“That’s true Ushijima, but the way she said it just sounded… you know… Like we are all dating Tendou or something”

“It’s a sign of a strong bond then if others think we are that close.”

“I don’t think that that’s the kind of thing we want people thinking”

Before this thread of conversation could develop any more, Soekawa spoke up. “I’m sure it's just some kind of misunderstanding. Someone probably saw Tendou calling our group hangouts a date or something and that girl just wanted to make a joke. I’m sure it's nothing.” Ushijima nodded, but the rest of the team still looked a little dubious. But, Soekawa was sure that this was nothing bad and changed the subject. “Anyway, coach wants us to start with serves today, so we better get going”

\----

Jin Soekawa may not have the volleyball skill to be a regular, but he was smart enough to figure out what was going on. The boys, Tendou, the strange questions people were asking the team, it could all only mean one thing. Tendou was using the team as a shield to ward off unwanted advances. Soekawa had noticed the boys coming to the games to cheer for Tendou, and now the school had rumors flying around that Tendou was dating the regulars on the team in some kind of polyamorous relationship. It was ingenious really. Tendou acted so friendly already that team members wouldn’t bat an eye at some of his behavior while he flaunted it in front of interested parties to give the appearance that he wasn’t available and send them packing. 

It’s not like anyone had a girlfriend or anything, and it would probably only last until Tendou graduated, so Soekawa didn’t think it would cause too much harm. Besides, from what Soekawa could tell, this method was actually very effective in putting a stop to the flow of interested people. But here and there, there would still be someone who still wanted to take a chance.

“C’mon Tendou, you already have more than one boyfriend, why not give me a chance too? Just a date would be fine wouldn’t it?” Soekawa heard from around the corner while he was picking a drink from the machine. This guy seemed a little more forward than they usually were, he thought as he picked chocolate milk.

“Even if I’m going out with multiple people, that doesn’t mean that I would be interested in you.” Soekawa heard Tendou say as he approached the corner.

“C’mon, just one date--”

“Satori, there you are, I’ve been looking for you!” Soekawa interrupted. “I got you a drink while I was at it” And he handed Tendou the chocolate milk. Tendou’s face immediately lit up and he looked at Soekawa with sparkling eyes. 

“Thank you, you are so sweet!” Tendou says as he extracts himself from his conversation to throw an arm around Soekawa “Sorry, my friend is here, I gotta get going”

Once they are far enough away Tendou eyes his vice-captain. “So, you’ve caught on huh?” 

Soekawa shrugs. “With all the rumors going around and such, I’ve figured it out.” 

Tendou grins. “So, are you joining my harem then?” Soekawa just laughs and wraps his arm around Tendou’s body in a reciprocating one-armed embrace.

“I suppose I am. You owe me for that chocolate milk by the way.”

“Why wouldn’t my boyfriend just want to get a drink for the sake of making me happy?!”

“Well, boys who are friends who are also pretending to be boyfriends pay each other back. Besides, I don’t have any more change on me”

“Alright honey, I’ll buy you a drink.”

**Author's Note:**

> Some people may question whether or not it is possible that Tendou would have a group of admirers, but I have to disagree.  
> If they saw him kick ass on the court, then they probably have a crush on him. I don't make the rules.
> 
> I will make a continuation where whatever Tendou pairing you want becomes real if any of you say you want it
> 
> Thank you for reading! Comments and kudos are appreciated! You can find me on tumblr + twitter @mellojello999 !!!


End file.
